TSANG Yee Ting

General
EARLY DAYS
She struggled with her motivation for karate during a period of time as a teenager. She says switching dojos helped her rediscover her love for the sport. "While I fundamentally have always enjoyed karate, there was a period of time in my teens when I developed a rebelliousness and I would skip practice and not go to my dojo. At that point, I did question what karate meant to me, and if I loved it. Then, one year my master didn't allow me to compete in the Asian junior karate championship. I was so angry and disappointed as it was held in Hong Kong that year. We had a falling out that led me to attend a different dojo. It was going to this new dojo that reinvigorated my passion for karate. Compared to my previous dojo, which was quite focused on competition and performance, this new dojo took a traditional approach where I was able to develop a deeper understanding of karate not only for competition and performance, but the values and the art behind it. I think the change of environment, and being exposed to new ways of learning and practising karate was necessary for me at the time." (wisewomenhk, 01 Jan 2018)

VITILIGO
At age two she was diagnosed with vitiligo, a condition where pale white patches develop on the skin. "Karate has given me the confidence to overcome developing vitiligo and also feeling unconfident academically. With vitiligo, even though I developed it from the age of two and I was very young, even at that age I knew there was something different about me compared to my friends. When I first developed vitiligo, the white patches first appeared on my back and my legs and feet. I felt different and even if my friends around me didn't notice it or ask me about it, I myself was very conscious about it and I wanted to hide it. I also didn't have much confidence in school because I was ranked so poorly in class. I was really always the worst student and the one with the worst grades. But karate gave me the confidence to accept myself for who I am in spite of my skin condition and poor grades. I was good at karate so I could at least say I was good at something. I can honestly say if I didn't practise karate, I wouldn't have been able to cope with vitiligo as easily either." (COTAP YouTube channel, 04 Mar 2022; wisewomenhk, 01 Jan 2018)